The crashed plane was shot down by Russia unintentionally, the President of Azerbaijan said
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed this week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, and criticized Moscow for keeping the issue “silent” for days.
“We can say absolutely clearly that the plane was shot down by Russia… We are not saying that it was done on purpose, but it was done,” he told Azerbaijan's state television.
Aliyev said the plane, which crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, had fired from the ground into Russian skies and had become “uncontrollable due to electronic warfare.” He accused Russia of keeping the issue “silent” for several days, saying he was “outraged and surprised.” ” from the versions presented by Russian officials regarding the events.
“Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard nothing from Russia, except delusional versions,” said Aliyev.
The crash killed 38 of the 67 people on board.The Kremlin said air defense systems opened fire near Grozny, the regional capital of Russia's Chechen Republic, where the plane tried to land to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike.
Aliyev said that Azerbaijan presented three demands to Russia in connection with the plane crash.
“Firstly, the Russian side should apologize to Azerbaijan, secondly, admit its guilt, thirdly, punish the guilty, subject them to criminal liability and pay compensation to the Azerbaijani state, injured passengers and crew members,” he said.
Aliyev noted that the first demand was “already fulfilled” when Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to him on Saturday. Putin called the accident a “tragic incident”, but did not accept Moscow's responsibility.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Sunday that Putin spoke again by phone with Aliyev, but he did not give details of the conversation.
The Kremlin also announced that a joint investigation by Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan has begun at the crash site near Aktau, Kazakhstan.
The plane was flying from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny in southern Russia when it turned toward Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers from its destination across the Caspian Sea, and crashed while attempting to land.
As more evidence points to the possibility that a missile hit the Azerbaijan Airlines flight, some survivors are speaking about the moments of the crash in Kazakhstan.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane as it circled over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia's civil aviation agency Rosavia, said on Friday that while the plane was about to land in Grozny amid thick fog, Ukrainian drones targeted the city, forcing authorities to close the area to air traffic.
The crash is the second fatal civil aviation accident linked to fighting in Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people on board, as it flew over eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.
Russia has denied responsibility, but a Dutch court in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russian Ukrainian for their role in shooting down a plane with an anti-aircraft system brought from a Russian military base to Ukraine.
